Webcomic Storyline:

Comic Transcript:

ALEX: Yesterday, in the "Schroedinger's Plot" episode, we learned about a possible paradox in the space-time continuum of the Help Desk universe. To help everyone understand how we are going to solve this little problem, it is necessary to know a few facts about a "thought experiment" proposed by Erwin Schroedinger, Quantum Physicist and generally acknowledged scientific troublemaker.

ALEX: His thought experiment went like this: put a cat, a vial of prussic acid, a trigger device and a decaying atom into a box. Cover the box (so you can't see into it). Let sit at least one hour at room temperature, do not stir.

Each hour, the decaying atom as a 50% chance of emitting whatever it is atoms emit when they decay... and if it does, the trigger device will break the vial fo prussic acid, killing the cat.

MARK: And what, pray tell, was the point?

ALEX: Schroedinger was a scientist, Mark. He didn't need a point. He just needed funding.